Automatically-closing valve.



0. SGHMAGHTENBERGER.

AUTOMATICALLY CLOSING VALVE.

APPLIGATION FILED JAN. 3, 1913.

Patented Dec. 30,- 1913.

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Patented Dec. 30, 1913.

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AUTOMATICALLY CLOSING VALVE.

' APPLICATION FILED JAN. 3, 1913. 1,082,708.

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AUTOMATICALLY-CLOSING VALVE.

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To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OTTOMER SOHMACH TENBERGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Decatur, in the county of Macon and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatically-Closing Valves; and I do declarethe following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in automatically closing valves for fluid conducting pipes.

One object of th invention is to provide a valve of this character having means for holding the valve open, which means when subjected to heat will be destroyed thereby permitting the valve to close.

Another object is to provide an automatically closing valve having means whereby the same may be released from a distant point and thus permitted to close.

lVith these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction and the combination and arrangement of parts as will be more fully described and claimed.

In the accompanying drawings: Figure l is a vertical sectional view of my improved valve showing the same open and arranged in position for use; Fig. 2 is a side view of the same showing the casing of the fluid controlling valve in section and the valve released and in a closed position; Fig. 3 is an inner end view of the lower portion of the device with the parts in the position shown in Fig. 1; Fig. 1 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 4l l of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 55 of Fig. 1 illustrating more clearly the construction and arrangement of the means for manually releasing the valve; Fig. 6 is a detail perspective view of the detent holding member of the device; Fig. 7 is a similar view of one of the detents for normally holding the valve in open position.

In the present embodiment of the invention the same is shown as being applied to a gas service pipe whereby the gas will be automatically cut oil in case of a fire occurring in the building in proximity to the point where the service pipe enters the lat-- ter, it will be obvious however that the valve may be employed in connection with any Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed January 3, 1913.

Patented Dec. 30, 1913. Serial No. 740,080.

fluid conducting pipes for automatically closing the latter or for manually closing the same from a distant point.

Referring more particularly to the accompanying drawings, 1 denotes the service pipe through which gas is brought into the building and which passes through the wall to of the building below the surface of the ground as. shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The service pipe 1 is connected within the building with a T 2 to which is also connected a pipe 3 leading to the gas meter (not shown.) The opposite end or branch of the T from that to which the service pipe 1 is connected is closed by a plug 4 which also serves as a guard member for a valve holding rod hereinafter described.

Arranged in the service pipe 1 at a suitable point outside of the building and also preierably below the surface of the ground is a valve casing 5 in which is formed a valve seat 6' adapted to receive the valve 7 which, when closed and in engagement with the seat cuts ofi the flow of gas into the building. In the outer end of the valve casing 5 is a threaded opening in which is screwed a hollow plug or cap 8 which receives and slidably supports the outer end of the stem 9 of the valve 7 as shown. The outer portion of the hollow plug or cap is reduced or is of less diameter than the inner portion thereby forming a shoulder 10 between which and the valve 7 is arranged a coiled spring 11 against the pressure of which the valve is held open and by 'means of which the valve is automatically closed against its seat when released.

@n the inner side of the valve are formed radially projecting guide wings or blades 12 which slidably engage the opening formed by the valve seat in the casing 5 and in the center of which is formed a socket 13 with which is engaged the outer end of a valve holding rod 14 which extends through the portion of the service pipe 1 which enters the building and through the T 2 to which said pipe is connected and has its opposite end slidably engaged with a guide passage 15 formed in the plug 4 which closes the inner end of the T 2. In the outer end of the plug 1 is formed a centrally disposed recess 16 which forms a stutting box for a packing gland 17, by means of which a fluid tight connection is provided between the valve rod and the plug 4, thus preventing the escape of gas from the opening 15 through which the rod let passes. VVhe-n the valve 7 is opened the same is held in this posit-ion by the rod 14, the inner end of which is normally engaged with a detent 18 supported in operative position adjacent to the outer end of the plug at.

The detent 18 may be of any suitable construction adapted to be destroyed or fused in such manner as to release the rod 14 and permit the valve to close when the detent is subjected to heat. The detent 18 is here shown and is preferably in the form of a small metal tube 19 of suitable length and which is provided with a filling 20 of rosin or other suitable substance which will melt or be consumed by heat thereby removing the obstruction of the rod 14 and permitting the same to slide outwardly and the valve 7 to close under the pressure of the spring 11 of the valve. The detent 18 is held in position beyond the outer end of the plug to receive the end of the rod 14 by a yoke or bail shaped detent bar 21, the ends of which are connected to or formed integral with an interiorl'y threaded collar 22 which has a threaded engagement with the projecting outer end of the plug 4 thereby holding the yoke or bail shaped bar 21 in position to support the detent 18 which is arranged therein and held in position between the outer end of the rod 14. and the yoke by the pressure of the spring 11 as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

In the outer end of the yoke is formed a recess 23 with which the end of the detent is engaged and in said end of the yoke is also formed a notch 2a through which the filling 20 of the detent is permitted to pass from the tube 19 thereof when said filling is liquefied or melted under the action of the heat from a fire in the proximity of the device. lVhen the filling 20 of the detent is thus liquefied and flows out of the tube 19 the end of the rod 14 is released thus permitting the spring 11 to project the rod through the plug 1 and bring the valve 7 to a closed position thus cutting off the flow of the gas through the service pipe.

In order to manually release the valve from the outside of the building, I provide a valve releasing mechanism comprising a plunger rod 25 which is slidably supported in a guide bracket 26 secured to a clamping band or collar 27 which is fastened around or clamped to the pipe 3 as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and e: of the drawings. The lower end of the plunger rod 25 is offset or bent laterally and then downwardly to form a detent engaging finger 28 which when the rod is depressed will engage the detent 18 andpush the same from between the outer end of the valve holding rod 1% and the yoke 21, thus releasing the rod and permitting the valve 7 to be closed by its spring 11 in the same manner as when released by the melting or the fusing of the detent. The rod 25 is normally held in a retracted or inoperative position by a coiled spring 29 which is arranged on the rod 25 between the bracket- 26 and a stop collar 30 which is adjustably secured to the rod by aset screw 31 as shown.

The upper end of the plunger rod 25 is pivotally connected to the outer end of a crank arm 32 which is adjustably secured by a set screw 38 to the inner end of the rock shaft 34 which is supported at its inner end in a suitable hanger 35 and at its outer end passes through and has a loose engagement with an opening in the wall of the building as clearly shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The outer end of the rock shaft 3% projects into a box or casing 36 which is secured to the outer side of the building and which is normally closed by a cover 37' which may be locked or sealed in closed position to prevent the rock shaft from being tampered with by unauthorized persons. On the outer end of the rock shaft 34 within the box or casing 36 is rigidly secured a short crank handle 38 which when the box is opened may be grasped and the rock shaft 34 thereby turned to project the plunger rod 25 in the proper direction for pushing the detent 18 from between the valve holding rod 14 and the yoke 21 thus manually releasing the valve without entering the building. It will also be noted that the valve casing 5 containing the fluid controlling valve 7 is arranged outside of the building and below the surface of the ground so that the valve is protected and is out of reach of a fire in the building, or cannot be injured by falling walls or other objects. The arrangement of the handle 38 for operating the detent engaging rod 25 dispenses with the necessity of any one entering a burning building to cut off the flow of gas thereto and thus obviates the danger which might occur to the person entering a burning building.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, the construction and operation of the invention will be readily understood without requiring a more extended explanation.

Various changes in the form, aroportion and the minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention as claimed.

Having thus described my invention what I claim is:

1. The combination with a fluid service pipe, of a valve casing arranged in said pipe, an automatically closing valve in said casing to cut off the passage of the fluid through the pipe, a valve holding rod engaged at one end with said valve, a suitably supported detent to engage the opposite end of said holding rod whereby the valve is normally held open, a manually operated valve closing mechanism comprising a rock shaft adapted to be suitably mounted, a crank arm on one end of said rock shaft, a spring retracted plunger rod connected with said crank arm and adapted to be projected by said rock shaft and crank arm to disengage said detent from said valveholding rod thereby permitting the valve to close, an operating handle on the other end of said rock shaft and a suitably closed and fastened protecting casing to receive the outer end and handle of said rock shaft whereby the latter is protected from being tampered with.

2. The combination with a fluid conducting pipe, of a valve casing arranged in said pipe, an automatically closing valve in said casing to cut-off the passage of the fluid through said pipe, a slidably supported valve holding rod engaged at one end with said valve, a detent supporting member, a detent arranged between said member and the opposite end of said holding rod whereby the latter is normally held in position to hold said valve open, said detent comprising a tube having therein a filling fusible under heat and with which said opposite end of said holding rod is engaged when the filling is in a hardened state and which when fused will release said rod and permit the valve to close, and means whereby said detent may be manually disengaged from said rod at a point remote from the valve thereby permitting the valve to close.

3. The combination with a fluid service pipe of a valve casing arranged in said pipe, an automatically closing valve in said casing to cut off the passage of the fluid through the pipe, a valve holding rod engaged at one end with said valve, a suitably supported detent to engage the opposite end of said holding rod whereby the valve is normally held open, said detent being fusible under the action of heat to release said rod and permit said valve to close, a manually operated valve closing mechanism comprising a rock shaft adapted to be mounted in a building and having one end adapted to project outside the building, a crank arm on the inner end of said rock shaft, a spring retracted plunger rod connected with said crank arm and adapted to be projected by said rock shaft and crank arm to disengage said detent from said valve holding rod thereby permitting the valve to close, an operating handle on the outer end of said rod and a suitably closed and fastened protecting casing to receive the outer end and handle of said rock shaft whereby the latter is protected from being tampered with.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

OTTOMER SCHMAOHTENBERGER.

WVitnesses J. W. KNowL'roN, C. A. FAUGHT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. C. 

